Revenge Exclusive: Scoop on TV's Sexiest Mystery

This story discusses some major plot points from the February 15 episode. Do not read this if you haven't watched it yet!

Daniel Grayson — you may have survived your mother's Fire & Ice Ball, but the flames are closing in fast.

With blood on his hands, the handsome Hamptons prince has some serious explaining to do in the aftermath of the February 15 reveal that the silhouetted figure in the white dinner jacket gunned down on the beach outside Grayson Manor in the pilot turned out to be... someone other than Daniel. (We'll stay mum on the stiff's identity for those behind on their DVR viewing.)

"I've been kept alive, which is fantastic!" says Josh Bowman in his posh real-life British accent. "I get to continue the madness that is Revenge." With the 23-year-old's breakout status, it should come as no real surprise to learn that Danny Boy was never in any real jeopardy despite what it looked like in the addictive drama's first episode. "I knew I didn't want the body on the beach to be Daniel," confesses creator Mike Kelley, who hired a stand-in to play dead in the original scene. "But I made sure Josh believed he was going to die all along. He didn't learn the truth [about his character] until the table read of that episode." (Madeleine Stowe, who plays Daniel's doting mother, Victoria, claims she's known since the beginning.)

Today, the cast has assembled in a police-station set, formerly home to the short-lived Law & Order: Los Angeles, for a tense 4am interrogation. For nearly three weeks now, the actors have been wearing their same Fire & Ice wardrobe, which has gone through numerous cleanings to get rid of nasty blood and sand stains. The usually sharp-suited Daniel, however, appears as we've never seen him before: in jeans and a gray sweatshirt with a bloody bandage on the back of his head. Even more startling, Daniel is being embraced by two bitter enemies of each other — his mom, Victoria, and fiancée, Emily (Emily VanCamp).

Though it's an uncharacteristically touching scene, considering Emily is determined to make Victoria pay for the wrongful imprisonment of her father, the threesome have grown close off camera. Bowman and VanCamp's relationship has followed them off the set, while Stowe has bonded with Bowman over their shared love of astrology and routinely laughs with VanCamp about the sinister ways their characters one-up each other every week. "We just look at each other and say, 'This is so sick,'" says Stowe. "Thank God it's Emily in this role, because I think with other actresses, things could possibly turn ugly."

Ugly is an apt word to describe the turn of events at the end of the February 15 episode, when viewers learned that Daniel was not only alive, but that he was actually responsible for firing the first of three bullets into the victim's chest. The identity of the black-gloved murderer who fired the subsequent two shots will be revealed to viewers by the conclusion of the February 29 episode. (Note to AMC's The Killing: That's how you satisfy fans!)

Enjoying her own revenge as the star of TV's hottest new soap after parting ways with Brothers & Sisters in its final season, VanCamp admits she was surprised by the killer's identity. But, she says, "It could be anybody. There are enough evil characters here capable of anything."

Kelley does confirm that Daniel will remain the authorities' prime suspect (possibly even being sent off to jail), and that the flashback-filled February 29 hour will introduce Courtney B. Vance (Law & Order:Criminal Intent) as Daniel's defense attorney, Benjamin Brooks. Nearly every character will face police interrogation. "It's so much fun to watch how things really happened that night as all the secrets start to unravel," says VanCamp. "You'll get to see a lot more of what happened on the beach. And Emily's revenge master Takeda really comes in to clean up for her."

As for Daniel, Bowman has been rooting for his fall from grace all along. "He's been so damn good, and I like to be bad," says Bowman with a wicked smile. "He's been gullible and foolish, believing anything Emily says. I'd like to see a dark side of Daniel, and that may be coming down the line as he finds out certain things about Emily. I know where this love story is going, and it will only end in tears."

For more on Revenge, pick up this week's issue of TV Guide Magazine, on newsstands now!